This informative piece will guide you through setting up Windows 8/8.1 on a new virtual machine created using the widely used Oracle VM VirtualBox virtualization program. Our step-by-step instructions will help you complete the setup process quickly and efficiently.
You can easily install and use Windows 8/8.1 or Linux-based operating systems on your host computer using VirtualBox. You can also install the Guest Additions software on the Windows 8.1 system installed on your virtual computer and enable using host devices in the VM.
With the Guest Additions software, you can exchange files between the host and the virtual PC and use the screen resolution in full-screen or auto-scaled mode.
After installing the Oracle virtualization software on your computer, click on Machine / New from the tool menu of the program. After opening the VM creation wizard, follow this video or the following steps.
Step 1: First, download the Windows 8.1 operating system to your computer from or an online source.
Step 2: Run the Oracle VM VirtualBox virtualization program and click the New button from the menu or shortcut tools to start the VM creation wizard.
Step 3: In the Name and Operating System window, type Windows 8.1 in the Name field, and VirtualBox will automatically set the System Type and Version values. If you want to store the VM in a different location, you can change the place in the Machine Folder. Setting the VM’s site on a portable disk will provide you with an increase in performance.
Step 4: In the Memory Size window, set a suitable RAM value for the Windows 8.1 virtual machine according to the RAM capacity of your physical computer. Do not forget to choose 4 GB or higher as the minimum RAM value.
Step 5: Create a new virtual disk for the Windows 8/8.1 VM in the Hard Disk window. Since the Create a virtual hard disk option is enabled by default, you can continue by clicking Next directly in this step. If you have a Win8 virtual disk that you have previously installed, you can continue with the Add an existing virtual HDD option and select your virtual disk with the VDI extension from your physical disk.
Step 6: In the Hard Disk File Type window, continue with the VDI (VirtualBox Disk Image) option, which is enabled by default. Let’s explain the other disk types here: VHD is a virtual disk file used by Microsoft. VMDK is a virtual disk file used by other virtualization software such as VMware Workstation. If you use Oracle software, using the VDI disk file recommended by its developers would be better.
Step 7: After clicking Next, check the location where the virtual HDD will be stored in the File Location and Size window. If you want to change the location of the virtual HDD file, you can click the folder icon and select the desired location on the host. In addition, the minimum 50 GB disk space for the Windows 8.1 virtual machine is automatically determined by the program. If you use programs that need high disk space on your VM, you should increase this disk space.
Step 8: After creating the Windows 8 virtual computer, click Settings to add the ISO file to the VM and make other essential settings.
Step 9: Configure the Shared Clipboard and Drag and Drop options as Bidirectional to enable file sharing in the General / Advanced section of the virtual machine’s settings.
Step 10: Set Optical for boot sequence in System / Motherboard settings, and if you want to set up UEFI, you can also enable the EFI option.
Step 11: In System / Processor settings, configure a value of 4 or higher vCPUs as the number of virtual processors to the VM.
Step 12: Enable the Acceleration option in Display / Screen settings for better rendering of 3D graphics and configure the Video Memory value as 256 MB.
Step 13: Enable the I/O Cache feature of the SATA controller in the Storage settings. Set the Windows81.vdi virtual disk file as SSD (Solid-State Drive), and finally click on Empty and then the DVD icon to add the Windows ISO file to the VM and the image file.
Step 14: After preparing the Windows 8 VM, click the Start button and start the installation.